Burnham Speech - Housing

Taking back control of the essentials

He regards the privatisation of the 80's as loss of national control of the essentials the nation needs

Burnham said: 

(speaking about privatisation)

The common wealth of the nation was seen as an opportunity for the few.

Homes. Water. Energy. Transport. Care. Broken up and sold off.

Loss of :

• Economic control diminished by selling off essentials. 
• Political control corroded by the hollowing out of councils. 
• Immigration control weakened by Brexit.

Homes

The Housing Issue (not from Burnham's speech)

England is estimated to need about 340,000 new homes every year, including 145,000 affordable homes, according to research cited by the House of Commons Library. [commonslib...liament.uk]

Actual supply was about 233,000 homes in 2021/22. (Commons Library)

So the annual shortfall was roughly:

• Homes needed: ~340,000
• Homes supplied: ~233,000
• Gap: ~107,000 per year

If a gap of that size persists for a decade, it implies a cumulative shortage exceeding 1 million homes.

Social housing

The figures are even more striking for social housing:

• England has 1.3 million fewer households in social housing than in 1980. 
• Shelter reports a net loss of about 260,000 social-rent homes over the last decade. 
• Only around 12,000 social-rent homes were delivered in 2024/25, compared with more than 200,000 a year in the mid-1950s

Burnham Speech (edited)

With a good home, everything is possible. Without one, it feels like nothing is.

Kids can’t have a good start in life. Families can’t have good health, physical and mental health. Over a million people are in that position on housing waiting lists – almost exactly the same number as the homes we lost through Right-to-Buy in the 1980s.

1. I set an immediate mission to end the need for rough sleeping.
   
2. The biggest council house building programme since the post-war era,
3. We need to restore stronger democratic control over our housing stock.
4. We will help councils build again and make it affordable by building on unused public land.
5. We will reform Right-to-Buy - removing it from the new homes we build so they are there for generations to come. Restoring the public housing stock to what it once was
6. We will give councils the power to take control of empty homes and bring them back into the public housing stock. 
7. Landlords who rent out the worst quality homes will be given warnings to improve them. If they refuse, we will make it much easier for councils to acquire those homes and we will legislate if necessary.
8. Get back to a Britain where young people starting out are able to buy a home. Your First Home will reduce the size of the deposit you need. It will open up home ownership to those not backed by the bank of mum and dad.
9. A Bill before Christmas for long overdue Leasehold Reform. To the millions of leaseholders across the country, you have my word. The days of you being squeezed for every penny are coming to an end.

Not seeing housing only as a market with winners and losers, but as an essential everyone needs for a good life.

Recommended Viewing

BBC Documentary:

Britain's Housing Crisis - what went wrong

Burnham's Full Speech